Luftwaffe Dornier 17 at Goodwin Sands 'still intact' (BBC)

By Nick Higham
BBC News

The discovery of a unique German warplane off the Kent coast left experts "incredulous". New images suggest the Dornier 17 is still intact and there are hopes that it will go on show.

They called it "the flying pencil": a slim, elegant aircraft originally designed in 1934 to carry passengers, which by the start of World War II had been converted into a deadly weapon of war.

The Dornier 17 was one of the mainstays of the Luftwaffe bombing fleets which began their assault on British cities and RAF airfields in the summer of 1940, in what became known as the Battle of Britain.

A total of 1,700 Dorniers were built, but the plane discovered in Goodwin Sands is thought to be the last remaining one.

Dornier 17 Z-2, serial number 1160, of number 7 squadron, 3 Group, third Bomber Wing, was shot down on 26 August 1940 and made an emergency landing in the sea just off the Kent coast.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12997528

if people are failing to be respectful (jackasses!) or if the sands will rebury it then I suppose raising it is the best option...

It is no place for amateurs

Lightweight airframe materials hate salt and that plane has been underwater for 70 years and still seems somewhat intact. Amazing.

Personally I'd like to see it studied in place but if they think they can bring it up in one piece I'll look forward to the results.

Warplanes, especially of that era, weren't built for longevity but for lightness and mass production. They weren't expected to outlive their obsolescence. Alloys at the time weren't known to withstand the elements for long, but they didn't have to. The Japanese were superior metallurgists, but few airworthy A6Ms survive because the wing spars, while very light, turn into powder in time making restoration of wrecks impractical.

Remember Glacier Girl and the millions spent bringing up the P-38 somewhere around Greenland. That plane was frozen in the ice after a crash landing and that was likely the only reason it was preserved. Even so, the cost of recovery and restoration was more than the eventual value of the plane. Maybe the Dornier will make a nice non-flying display.

http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl.htm

As such, to be treated with respect by all sides.

Not exactly a "war grave".

:eyes:

We're not talking about the cemetery of the Waffen SS here: this was
just a plane that was shot down during a war. Half the crew died and
half survived to become POWs.

As someone said upthread, the bodies were probably recovered at the
time so it wouldn't class as a war grave for that reason but otherwise
it would be the same as any other vehicle containing dead members of
a nation's armed forces.

(And before you jump in with more ignorance, my mother lived through
the Blitz - under attack by bombers such as this one - and even she
recognised that any remaining ships & planes found now were war graves,
regardless of which side they were at the time.)

It seems more likely to me that the bodies of the 2 who died were already retrieved, in that case.

Thanks.

I hope that the Dornier 17 is raised, restored and put on display, either at the Imperial War Museum or the Aviation Museum at Duxford. I love the planes from WW2.